A Star To Guide The Lost
by JasonGroff
Summary: Things had been looking so good for Donna Noble, but married life didn't turn out to be all that she'd expected. Once again she found herself drifting. She decides it's time for a big change and moves to the U.S. to start over in Lima, OH of all places.


Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own either Doctor Who or Glee, much less both. If I did I would probably be too busy counting my enormous piles of money to bother writing this fanfiction.

Author's Note: The song used in this story is "Blue Spotted Tail" by the fabulous Fleet Foxes. Also I've also posted this fic on tumblr, so it's possible that if you tumblr in certain circles, you already read a less edited version.

A Star To Guide The Lost

Donna Noble wasn't quite certain what to expect on her first day as a substitute teacher at some high school in an American town. She could barely recall the name of the town. Lema? Limo? It was in Ohio at least. Seemed a rather dull place, but then Donna hadn't ever considered that life would be more interesting in Ohio than it had been in England, she just needed to get away.

First her marriage of only a few months had fallen apart, her husband claiming that there were too many days when Donna was someone he just didn't recognize. Apparently when he'd taken vows about 'in sickness and health' he hadn't really meant for them to be taken so literally. Donna had ended up moving back in with her mom, but when her grandfather passed away last year she couldn't stand being there in the tiny house with her mother and all the memories... It wasn't even as if Donna had a particularly notable life, working as a temp at various offices, never for more than a few months at a time. But when she was with her grandpa on the hill by their house, looking through his small telescope up into the vastness of space... there was always the promise of something more floating just on the edge of her memory. Like a vivid dream, fading quickly as soon as she'd woken up.

For a few months after he'd passed, it had felt like the world was closing in around her, getting smaller and darker. Like she was just going to stop existing altogether if she stayed.

So she did what she always did. Quit her job and set off to find a new one. A better one. Only this time instead of just going across town she was going to take a bit of an adventure. She'd always wanted to travel, see new places, meet new people. She rolled her expressive blue eyes dramatically as she wrote her name on the whiteboard and set her first students of the day up with their busy work. _Yeah... bloody wonderful 'adventure' here for sure. Least the neighborhood around mum's house had more for entertainment than one crappy restaurant and a duck pond._

_X_

Later that day at lunch she walked hesitantly into the teachers' lounge and set up her food at an empty table. There were two other teachers, a young looking man with the craziest curly hair and a heavily built woman who looked like she could easily lift the old blue car that Donna had left in England.

Donna had barely set out her food when a tall blonde woman in a track suit approached her table, muttering something under her breath about there being a strict policy that this was _her_ table, and how it was written in her teaching contract that she didn't have to share anything with gingers.

"Hey William? Is this your lost ginger sitting at my table? They all look the same to me." The rude woman asked, not even bothering to speak to Donna directly.

_Who the hell does this bitch think she is? _"_Excuse me, _skinny blonde in a track suit." Donna pushed her chair away from the table, metal legs scraping loudly against tile. She stood waiting impatiently to catch the rude woman's eyes, an amused smirk coming to her lips at the utter shock crossing the blonde's face that someone was being rude back. "I'm _Donna Noble_ since you didn't ask, and I'll sit wherever I bloody well please you cocky American bitch. I might add that you're entirely too skinny to live in this country... and what is up with the teachers here all having crazy poofy hair? Is it some dress code I wasn't informed of?" Donna gestured to her own _reasonably styled_ long hair with both hands before placing her hands on her hips and staring up at the rude woman with an expectantly raised eyebrow.

"I'm going to ignore for the moment how you just compared my gloriously styled locks to Will's head-merkin and let you know how things work here in America. I know how on your side of the world you like to pretend everyone's all 'born equal' and should all get the same considerations from their government, but it doesn't work that way here you commie. You're just a substitute and I'm in charge of the most important team at this pathetic dump of a school, my newly reinstated and more disciplined than ever Cheerios. The president himself wrote me a letter thanking me because I am the only reason that this school district has enough funding to even teach all of its students how to read. Until you can say you are even remotely as important as me, I get to have this table to myself, and you can go sit over there with the other failures."

For a few moments Donna just stood there with her mouth hanging open, unable to decide if she was offended or in awe of this woman's ability to spout such utter bullshit with complete confidence. There was a time a few years ago when Donna would have argued back, but this woman had known her for less than a minute and already she'd managed to hone in on Donna's greatest insecurity. She used to be able to brush off insults like this one, but the past few years she'd begun to lose peace with her own lack of ambition. Donna swallowed hard, looking away from the woman in a show of weakness, trying to not remember her mother's parting words to her in the airport. _"It's not like I could be any more disappointed in you than I already am Donna. Do whatever you want. I can't even care anymore." _

Donna set her jaw against the helpless emotions she felt, shoving her hands into her pockets as she stared up at the tall woman in silence, trying not to let on how effortlessly the woman's words caused her pain. A bit of her confidence returned when the woman gave her a slight smile and a look of grudging respect. "Sue," The man finally spoke up, his annoyed and long suffering tone of voice indicating to Donna that this over the top aggressive behavior was normal. "What's the big deal, why don't you just let her sit with you?" He asked patiently, the slight whine in his voice indicated a long standing conflict between the two teachers. _Seriously, they're less mature than the teenagers I've been babysitting all morning._

_ "_Eh it's alright... William wasn't it?" Donna asked the younger man as she gathered her lunch and drink and went over to sit at the chair across the small table from him and his large friend. "I guess Sue-Majesty just needs the whole table to fit her _giant _ego." Donna stuck her tongue out at the bitch immaturely and returned her rude hand gesture.

The built woman sitting next to William was now laughing heartily, a charming smile lighting up her friendly face. "Good to meet you Donna. I'm Shannon Bieste, I just started working here last year. Nice to have you on the team. I'm the football coach and I teach PE." She pointed her thumb at the man next to her with the hand that wasn't holding her sandwich, "And this is Will Schuester. He teaches Spanish and runs the glee club."

"I didn't know that the American game called football had womens' teams? That's great to hear though, yah girl power! And what the hell is a glee club?"

"Well actually..." Shannon spoke up hesitantly only to be interrupted by an overly eager Will. She wasn't annoyed though, just shrugging indifferently and smiling indulgently at her friend's enthusiasm for his beloved glee kids.

"Glee club is basically a show choir. A bunch of the kids get together after school and sing and dance."

"They sound like a bunch of dying cats." Sue added helpfully, offering a vicious smile when Will shot her an affronted look.

"All of my glee kids are very talented. I know we're going to win Nationals this year."

"So... the kids compete then? At singing? Like Eurovision or something?" Donna asked, slightly confused. Sure they had choir when she was in school but they just gave a couple performances a year that only their parents attended.

"Um... I'm not sure what that is exactly, but glee clubs are very competitive." Suddenly Will's whole face lit up like he had just thought of the most brilliant idea.

"Uh oh. I know I pretended like I didn't care about you Super-Ginger, but if Willy has that look on his face you should probably run away while you still have most of your sanity."

"I was just going to ask if she wanted to go to this afternoon's glee practice to see what it was like."

Donna shrugged agreeably, sure they might just be a bunch of kids but Donna always believed in at least giving everyone a chance. She was always asking people to take a chance on her after all. "Sure William, I'd love to see this glee club of yours."

"Great! We meet just after school in the choir room. I'll meet you outside your class this afternoon to walk you there this is going to be great. I'm sure the kids will love meeting someone who is knowledgeable about a whole other music culture!" Will babbled excitedly, bouncing in his chair not unlike a small boy. _Knowledgeable? What did I just volunteer for?_

Sue smirked from behind her nutritional shake, "Don't say I didn't try to warn you."

X

By the time the day's last class was finally finished, Donna found herself more eager to leave the building than her students, who didn't even wait until the bell had rung to start packing up their things. She might have allowed herself to be offended by the blatant disrespect if she hadn't packed her things while they were still plowing through their worksheets.

Donna was halfway down the hall heading to the faculty car park, fantasizing about sitting on the couch in her cheap apartment and watching the telly when she remembered her promise to William to watch his glee club with a slight annoyed sigh. _Aah well, I need to make some adult friends if I want someone to go to the pub with... or whatever else they do in Ohio for entertainment._

It wasn't difficult to locate the choir room, but it still took her several minutes. Even so when she walked in there was only one other person in the room, a petite brunette dressed like she went to Donna's old private school, complete with sweater vest, knee high socks, and a skirt much too short for regulations. Donna smiled slightly at the comparison, walking over to lean against the piano in the front of the classroom. The girl didn't seem to notice her, engrossed in making notations on something in her notebook with a variety of different colored pens. _Guess she must be trying to get some of her homework done now. _Donna scoffed lightly, _Maybe if I'd been as dedicated in school I could have really made something of myself. Could've been a writer... maybe even a doctor._

As the minutes ticked by slowly the rest of the students filtered into the music room in twos and threes, along with a scruffy man who took a seat at the piano bench without saying a word or even so much as glancing at either Donna or any of the students. The moment the twelfth student took his seat, a teenager with some sort of sculpted topiary hair _a mohawk?_... the petite brunette who had arrived before Donna immediately stood up from hers. Donna had to stop the laugh from bubbling out when she noticed that even standing, the tiny brunette wasn't any taller than the tall boy with the vacant look still sitting in his chair next to her.

"Um... excuse me Ms...?" the girl inquired politely.

"Donna... Donna Noble. And how did you know I was single anyway?"

"Actually 'Ms.' is a professional address that doesn't specify marital status. As a member of the Model United Nations Human Rights Council, I think it's vitally important for women to be recognized for more than just the men they are or are not married to."

"Not that I don't support women's rights, Berry, but could you just get to the point?" A dark haired girl in a cheerleading uniform interrupted what Donna sensed could have been a lengthy speech, her tone of voice sounded exasperated, but Donna didn't miss the slight affectionate smile on the dark skinned girl's face that the group's leader didn't turn around in time to spot.

"It's an important issue, Santana." She scolded lightly before turning back to Donna, "Anyway Ms. Noble, I just wanted to ask if you were our substitute for this afternoon? I was almost certain I saw Mr. Schuester today. Anyway, I'm Rachel Berry, the female lead for glee club." The girl finished her unasked for introduction with a huge smile that made Donna feel at once very welcome here and at the same time paranoid that someone was playing a prank on her. After all, what teenager acted like this one? Still, Donna always preferred to give someone the benefit of the doubt and end up looking stupid later, especially if they were just a young kid starting out in life.

"Well I don't think so, at least that isn't what your teacher lead me to believe. He simply invited me to observe what exactly a 'glee club' was after school."

"He's probably just late because he's trying to get the dough-lady to have sex with him again." A tall, pale blonde girl with kind blue eyes offered as her dark haired friend tried unsuccessfully to hide her laughter.

"Pfft... well I certainly hope he wasn't just expecting me to look after you all while he tries to get lucky." Donna scoffed openly, before realizing that maybe she shouldn't have said something like that in front of students. "I mean um... not that you all don't seem like nice enough kids..."

"It's alright ma'am, I can understand you just wanting to get home after putting up with us all day." The boy with the strange hair offered, with what Donna suspected he fancied a charming smile. "The Puckasaurus understands that a woman as attractive as yourself must have better things to do with her time. You can go if you want, we won't get you in trouble." Donna's estimation of him rose as she saw him send hard glances to the other members of the club to enforce his promise. The other kids, even the ones who hadn't spoken all nodded in agreement, except for one girl with fading dyed pink hair and dark ripped clothes sitting in the back row by herself. She merely rolled her eyes, as though even being in this room with the other students was a chore, then quickly returned her gaze to what seemed to be a drawing pad in her lap, her black ink pen scratching softly against the thick paper.

"No, no, that's quite alright. I really did wish to hear you all perform."

Again Rachel Berry's hand shot up and Donna had barely nodded at her in acknowledgment before the tiny girl was out of her chair and pacing to the front of the classroom, the notebook that she had been working on earlier clutched in her hands. "I actually had a song prepared for today."

"Of course you do." A young looking boy replied sarcastically as his female friend sitting next to him snorted in amusement. Donna shot the pair a look as she took a seat in the front row, but it seemed she needn't have bothered.

"It's not however one of my usual selections from Broadway." Rachel continued as though she hadn't been interrupted, "My vocal instructor wanted me to practice using my voice in other ways, so he suggested a song that would require simple soft, emotional intensity rather than sheer vocal power, because my voice is already stronger than average for a female vocalist my age."

"Rachel." This time the tiny brunette stopped her speech immediately, and Donna herself was surprised to hear that the gentle voice belonged to the pink haired rebel in the back row. "I'm sure whatever you're going to sing for us will be great, just sing alright? You don't have to explain all the details to your audience." Donna blinked in surprise, studying the hard looking girl more closely, wondering why the class rebel seemed to care so much about the obvious goody-two-shoes who should be her natural enemy here. _Unless teenage girls have changed a great deal since I was in school anyway._

"Um.. thank you Quinn." Rachel replied simply, a light blush on her tanned cheeks as she gestured to the boy in a wheelchair who was holding an acoustic guitar. The boy grinned, wheeling himself to the front of the room slightly behind where Rachel stood. Rachel tapped out the pace of the song on her thigh with her hand for four beats, and then the boy began picking out a soft arpeggio on his instrument. The simple bare notes resonated around the room for a few moments before Rachel began to sing, her voice quiet but rich and full of emotion as her warm brown eyes drifted closed for the first notes.

_Why in the night sky are the lights on?_

_Why is the earth moving round the sun?_

_Floating in the vacuum with no purpose, not a one_

_Why in the night sky are the lights on?_

She broke off from singing words for several bars, simply humming along with the melody, her eyes now open again as the tiny performer directed her emotion-filled gaze at her audience. Her eyes merely passed over most of the kids, lingering a beat longer on Quinn than the others before she seemed to sense that this song was specifically for their guest, judging by the way the older woman's blue eyes were staring so fixedly at her. Rachel might have been surprised that she managed to pick out the perfect song for someone she didn't even know, but then she'd always been a little bit psychic about such things.

_Why is life made only for to end?_

_Why do I do all this waiting then?_

_Why this frightened part of me that's fated to pretend?_

_Why is life made only for to end?_

Donna gasped softly as she felt a deep sadness and longing constricting her heart, making breathing difficult. This had happened to her more and more often over the last couple of years. Intense emotions would assault her out of nowhere, but there were never any memories associated with them to give them any context. She'd considered more than once that she might really be going round the bend, after all her mother had definitely become more than a bit batty in her old age, but something always stopped Donna from ever seeking any professional help about her episodes.

_In the city only for a while._

_Here to face the fortune and the bile,_

_I heard you on the radio, I couldn't help but smile._

_In the city only for a while._

There was that one Christmas holiday, one of the last that she'd had with her grandfather. She had this long and vivid nightmare that she just couldn't seem to wake from that felt like it went on for days. This crazed blonde man had been _everywhere_ on the telly, in the streets, in her house. She'd called her grandfather in a panic and when against all of her expectations he'd actually answered his cellphone, Donna had thought she heard a voice in the background speaking with him. She'd vaguely recognized the quirky male voice, but her mind seemed to shy away from following that line of thought more closely even now. Now the song shifted, into a minor key as Rachel continued to hum along, her eyes holding Donna's with compassion, her expression indicating that she understood _exactly_ what the older woman was going through, even though there was no possible way that Rachel could know anything about Donna's dream. Full lips shifted into a slight smile before Rachel launched into a repeat of the first verse, this time with more power in her voice.

_Why in the night sky are the lights on?_

_Why is the earth moving round the sun?_

_Floating in the vacuum with no purpose, not a one_

_Why in the night sky are the lights on?_

Even as the last harmonious note of Rachel's voice and the guitar faded, the spell of the song seemed to linger over the entire group. For long moments no one moved or spoke as Rachel dropped her gaze to her feet, uncharacteristically shy at the sight of Donna discretely wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. The tiny singer didn't understand the soul deep pain in the older woman's blue eyes, and for once she didn't feel at all inclined to pry into another person's business. Rachel shivered slightly at the powerful emotions and the sensation of _something else_ in the room, thin arms wrapping around her own stomach in search of comfort.

Then just as the silence was becoming awkward the door to the choir room banged open loudly, causing everyone in the room to jump, save for the stoic piano player sitting quietly on his bench who merely shifted his eyes slightly in the direction of the door. "Hey guys! Sorry I was late, I had to ask Ms. Pillsbury a few questions about some administrative stuff..." He trailed off, blinking in surprise as he noticed Donna sitting in the front row, "Oh hi Donna, I didn't know you were going to come to the practice."

Donna narrowed her eyes at him slightly before replying, her voice thick with sarcasm, "Of course I did. I told you I would be here, and I was _on time_ I might add, along with all of your students. You always so dedicated to this talented group of young people Willy-boy?" She had to stop herself from laughing at his surprised look combined with the undisguised guffaw from the dark cheerleader sitting behind her at the blatant disrespect.

"Um... well... I think I'm on time most of days that we have practice..."

"Mr. Schue, you get to glee practice on time about as often as I buy my clothing at Walmart. _Never._" The thin boy commented with plenty of snark of his own.

The young teacher had the decency to look at least slightly ashamed of himself Donna noted, though she also noticed Rachel glancing speculatively between herself and her teacher. For the first time Donna noticed a sharp shrewdness in the tiny singer's eyes, a determination that again sparked warm feelings with no memories connected to them. Rachel Berry was _important. _If this girl didn't succeed, the future of the next few generations of humans would be drastically altered. Donna didn't question how she knew this; lately she would find herself simply knowing things that she would not have when she was younger.

"Mr. Schue, if I may?" Rachel asked, her voice carefully unemotional. "Do you think that Mr. Figgins would allow Ms. Noble to be our co-director?"

"Um... Rachel. I don't know if Donna even has a background in music, or any interest in this large of a time commitment..."

"While it's true that she doesn't seem as knowledgeable about the technical aspects of music as myself, I think that Ms. Noble is much more skilled at organization and time management than you have proven to be the past two years."

"It's true." Donna allowed, "No temp can file faster than I can." She shifted uncomfortably when she noticed the slightly judgmental look that the pink haired girl shot her at her mention of someone her age making a career as an office temp. _Never mind that, you need to be here if the future depends on this one._ "I think I would enjoy helping out with your club. It's not like I have much better to do at home or anything." Donna felt her spirits lifting when Rachel shot her a grateful smile before launching into another speech about the benefits of having someone other than Mr. Schue handling glee club's financial situation this year. Inside Donna felt some unknown tension that she'd hardly been aware of finally untangling after years of keeping her restless and drifting. _This_ was where she was meant to be right now. If she helped this Rachel Berry, she would eventually learn the reason for her emotions without memories. _And I'll be ready for whatever it is this time, I know I will._ Donna thought confidently as a few bars to an even more haunting song fell softly from her lips, filling her with thoughts of an endless winter and a close friendship that she'd never known.


End file.
